TheTameParrot.com - Say “BYE” To Your Parrot Problems

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If you are reading this, you are probably a bird fancier already. And you already know how intelligent birds are. But if you are like me, you have lot of friends who need convincing.

Many people don’t think of birds as intelligent. They consider nothing more them poop machines! Dirty, filthy animals! Lets just ignore the fact that these are “captive” animals and they are totally dependant on the owners to care for (and clean up) after them. Not much different then dogs and cats, right?

But the thought of training and playing with birds never crosses their minds. So whenever possible, I like to show them what birds can do. And what better way to do that but with some great parrot videos!

The internet has a vast resource of parrot videos available. But there are a few in particular that have become famous. Everyone has heard about the intelligence of Alex, the African Grey..and Einstein! But have you seen the golfing Indian Ringneck?

Here are just a few of my favorite parrot videos. Show these to your friends and see what they have to say now? My dog isn’t this well trained!

Ringneck parrot video playing golf!

Large assortment of parrot videos

http://www.metacafe.com/tags/parrot/

Parrot Video Collection..featuring Einstein!

http://www.parrotgateway.com/parrotvideo/parrotsvideocatalog.html

Alex the African Grey on National Geographic

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070913-alexparrot-video.html

If you are looking for a pet bird, check out Cockatoo rescue shelters. These organizations are dedicated to trying to find homes for unwanted birds.

These shelters accept birds from people for many reasons. Most often they just don’t understand how to handle these types of birds. They are quite intelligent and very demanding. Unless the owner understands their mentality, they can easily become spoiled or aggressive.

When we ran our aviary, we were asked many times to take in these birds. There are not a lot of Cockatoo rescue shelters in our state, but we never turn down a bird needing a home. Their background and stories are always interesting.

In one case, we took in an Umbrella Cockatoo named Abby. This bird started out being sold to an elderly women who never had a bird before. After two years, she simply could not handle the birds constant screeching and aggressiveness. She turned the bird over to one of the larger pet stores to find a new home.

Unfortunately, many pet stores are not in the business of doing Cockatoo rescues. They are in the business of making money. Therefore, they sold Abby to the first customer who showed interest in this bird…for $1100.

After this person got home, he realized the mistake he had made. Within hours the bird became quite aggressive. Then the man walked past the case, and Abby jumped on his back and bit him very hard. The man had a couple of children, and having an aggressive bird in the house certainly was not what he intended to do. The pet store would not refund his money (but would take the bird back for nothing so they could “adopt” him out again). He was about to just let the bird fly away, but his vet convinced him to turn him over to us.

What in interesting day that was. While my wife was in the kitchen, Abby jumped off the cage, stomped into the kitchen with a loud screech, wings spread out and beak wide open…and charged at her. He hit her shoe with her beak, looked up and waited for the predictable show of utter fear from my wife. Nothing! She just stood there!

>>For many more taming techniques check out “The Easy Parrot System”

We had already figured out Abby’s game. He wanted to show who was the boss…but my wife wasn’t going to have anything to do with that game. As time went by, the bird calmed down and became very friendly. We adopted it out to another family and Abby has been a success story! He found a new home with people who understood him.

Lesson learned…if you are trying to locate a Cockatoo rescue shelter, look for someone who is actually going to work with the bird, and not looking for a quick profit. Many Cockatoo rescue shelters are nothing more then breeders looking for animals to mate up and earn a profit from the babies. They don’t “sell” the birds but may ask for a donation to help continue their work with animals. Look for groups that are listed as a 501c3 organization (and can prove it). If they are not listed as a non-profit group, take extra care to look at their credentials, check out references, and look at their bird housing.

If you would like a list of recommended Cockatoo Rescue Shelters, check out the NetPets organization, which keeps a list of national rescue groups at http://www.netpets.com/birds/birdresc/birdgrp.html.

If you are like me, you never get enough information about parrots. It’s a never ending educational experience. It sort of reminds me about the medical profession… every day some new research comes out, or a new procedure. Doctors are always reading and learning… and so do I. But my problem is sitting down long enough read a book or magazine. I’m always on the go!

If this sounds a lot like you, let me clue you in on something that has been available for a while now, but not many people have heard if them. Parrot Podcasts!

Podcasts are a radio show that anybody can create and make available on the internet. Groups large and small make them. They can use massive production studio’s and techniques, or they get a $5 microphone and free sound recorders, and make them on their computer. The major news networks put them out. They are available on every topic imaginable. And there are several great parrot podcasts out there too!

They are put out in MP3 format, and can be played on your computer, or better yet, on your IPod while you are away from home. I love listening to podcasts while driving or doing my morning exercises. You can even subscribe to their shows, and with the proper software they are automatically downloaded to your computer whenever they are made available.

If this sounds interesting to you, let me point you to some great parrot podcast links.

Podcast.net has a list of many individual parrot podcasts and other bird audios.

http://www.podcast.net/show/23331

Anonymous Parrot

http://www.podcast.net.show/1733

Parrrot Chat

http://www.scritches.com/podcast/index.html

All God’s Creatures

http://allgodscreaturespets.podOmatic.com/entry/2007-01-12T19_24_27-08_00

Parrot Science

http://www.parrotscience.com/podcast/site/Podcast/Podcast.html

Did you know that if your bird does not get enough sunlight, it can drastically affect its health? Or, if you are breeding birds, incorrect lighting will completely throw off their breeding cycles? We didn’t know any of this when we first started breeding. And once we put this into practice, the difference was amazing! I sure wish someone had told us about this earlier!

ABOUT PROPER LIGHTING

When I say “light”, I am not talking about the light coming from a lamp or light fixture. Birds require “full spectrum” lighting. This is completely different than the sunlight wild birds are used to.

The importance of full spectrum lighting was first discovered by Dr. John Ott while doing time lapse photography of the development of pumpkin seeds. He noticed that when he switched from using cool white light bulbs to fluorescent tubes, he got the complete opposite effect from the plants. He discovered that he could vary the sources of light and get different results, many times drastically improving the growth of the plant. He went on to research this. He discovered that fluorescent bulbs did not produce the entire spectrum of light, leaving out Ultra Violate and other bands. The key was to try and duplicate the light waves generated from sunlight. This led to the development of a true full spectrum light bulb, and later developments improved the length of life to the bulbs.

His invention of the full-spectrum light bulb (named the “Ott” light) was introduced to the poultry industry, resulting in increased egg production, healthier birds, and larger eggs that had stronger shells. Further research proved that full spectrum lighting recreates the light-environment birds have in the wild, and had tremendous health value for birds, plants, and humans.

BENEFITS TO BIRDS

When properly used, you will notice a huge difference with your birds. Their feathers look better, as full spectrum light shows the true colors of the bird. Their health and demeanor improve, because many of the bird’s health and behavior instincts are directly affected. And the heat the light produces can benefit the bird if it’s feeling ill, or if the room is normally cool.

Full spectrum lights also generate ultra violate bands of light (UVA and UVB) which are crucial to the health and development of animals. UV light kills many forms of germs and bacteria that are on the bird’s skin and feathers. It is also necessary in the development of Vitamin D3 synthesis. For breeders, full spectrum lighting is needed to trigger behavioral instincts.

Birds are capable of distinguishing UV light in two ways. Their eyes have tetrachromatic vision, allowing them to see UV light. They also “sense” light through their Harderian Gland. This gland passes information onto the pineal gland and the pituitary gland, effecting a wide range of metabolisms in the bird. Through instinct, the bird knows that if there is a certain amount of sunlight each day, it’s breeding season. By using full spectrum lightbulbs, breeders can extend the daylight on the bird, and thus extend the length of their breeding cycles.

WHY ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING?

Normal windows block out many of the lightbands, especially low level UVB light. The bird is not benefiting from the full spectrum of light if the only source is sunlight through a window.

There are several methods of supplying full spectrum lighting. There are light stands and clamp on fixtures that can be placed near the case. Larger aviaries use fluorescent bulb fixtures in the ceiling to light large numbers of cages. They also have these lights set to timers to ensure between 12-16 hours of light daily.

For small cages, there are many flat panel lights that lay on top of the cage. These are popular with breeders of finches and small parakeets, as they are used in bird shows to bring out the colors of the birds being displayed.

The use of full spectrum lighting is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your bird’s health and demeanor. It’s a small investment but will have lots of benefits throughout the birds life.

We are always getting letters and email asking for advice and comments. So from time to time we will be passing along some of these conversations.

QUESTION: I found a wild baby bird and I need to know how to take care of it. I was told to chop up some worms to feed it, and give it water from an eyedropper. Is there anything else I should be doing? I’m not sure what type it is.

ANSWER: You can either start looking for a shoebox to bury it in, or change the diet completely!

For starters, you should not be attempted to feed a wild baby bird without first contacting a licensed bird rehabilitation expert. In many states, it’s against the law to take care of migratory birds, and most birds fit into this category. Starlings, pigeons and brown sparrows are not covered, but you still need some advice to go on.

Never chop up worms or insects of any type. Some parents are insect eaters, and they have already pre-digested this food for their babies. Others are berry and see eaters, and this diet is completely different. The parents also introduce important enzymes to help the baby digest food. Without this preparation, the baby can not digest food properly. If the baby bird is very recently hatched, you may need to add these enzymes to the diet. Most pet stores sell a product called BeneBac, which is a concentrated source of their digestive bacteria.

Giving a baby bird water though an eyedropper is much like the procedure breeders use to hand feed baby birds. If not done correctly, you will put food (or water) into the bird’s esophagus, choking the bird. So any type of forced hand feeding is dangerous.

If you can’t locate someone to take care of the bird, you can try purchasing a can of moist cat food, not chunky but very finely shredded When baby birds are hungry, they will immediately open their mouths when your hand approaches them. If they have not yet opened their eyes you can gently touch the food to their beaks, and they will instinctively know its feeding time. Take a very small piece of food, roll it between your fingers into a tiny roll. This will shape the food, and warm it up a little bit. Use very small pieces.

While the baby has it’s mouth open, drop it into it’s mouth. Do not force it! As long as the baby does not have any health issues going on, it will immediately swallow the food. By using cat food, it already contains enough moisture to keep the bird hydrated, and the food contains enough fat and protein to sustain the baby.

Never force the bird to eat. When he refused to open its mouth then he is full.

Now comes the fun part. Very young baby birds require constant, around the clock feeding. Every two hours, day and night, they MUST be fed. They must be kept warm, and the humidity must be high. This is a very delicate balancing act, and failing to do any of these will result in a dead baby. Building a hospital brooder is quite a chore for the average bird rescuer. If the temperature is more then a few degrees off, the bird will not survive. This is why it’s not recommended for the average person to attempt to raise wild baby birds.

Also be aware that a tiny, newborn baby bird does not fall out if it’s nest naturally. Many times the reason it fell is because the parents threw it out of the nest because something is wrong with it. In the wild, only the strong survive, so the parents will concentrate their efforts on the healthy birds and abandon the sick ones. Your rescue efforts may be just a futile attempt to get the bird to survive.

But it is also a human instinct to care for needing animals, and it’s awful hard to tell someone to just leave the baby to die. And it’s also a fact (Murphy’s law??) You will most likely rescue your baby bird on a weekend when there are no vet offices open, and no rehab facilities available. This is where we get a lot of our rescues! While we are state licensed, we are not able to handle federally protected birds. We will maintain the birds until we can get them to one of our rescue friends.